Norton sees 'new environmentalism'

Labor seeks energy tax; Nader group snipes at air plan

By

LisaSmith

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton called Wednesday for a "new environmentalism" centered on the individual's responsibility to care for America's land, sea and air.

Separately, labor unions renewed calls for carbon emission taxes to reduce global warming. And a group founded by former Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader criticized Bush Administration plans for new rules governing air pollution.

At a speech at the National Press Club, Norton encouraged the efforts of nature conservationists, the development of more renewable energy resources and the creation of a partnership between the federal and state governments to address environmental issues like global climate change.

"The government's role," she said, "is to empower the people to take conservation into their own hands." Listen to her speech.

President Bush will propose $100 million in cost-share grants to landowners, land-user groups, conservation groups and local and state governments for conservation projects, in an effort called the Cooperative Conservation Initiative, Norton said.

Half of this money will fund states directly, while the other half will fund federal agencies, such as the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, that work with outside groups in their efforts.

Norton also announced the creation of a 19-member Centennial Commission, charged with rallying public support for the National Wildlife System during its 100th anniversary.

The commission represents the formation of private sector partnerships and includes basketball player Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, Coors Brewing Co. CEO Pete Coors, TV host Jack Hanna of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures," and a bipartisan group of four senators and four representatives.

Emissions tax

Also Wednesday, representatives from labor unions and environmental groups announced their support for the conclusions of a new study calling for carbon emission taxes to reduce so-called greenhouse gasses.

Funds raised from the taxes and additional taxes on nuclear and hydroelectric power would pay for lost jobs in the coal mining and other related industries, the studies' authors claim. Read the release.

"We do not need to accept a choice between environmental degradation and economic calamity," the report, developed by the Economic Policy Institute and Center for a Sustainable Economy, concluded.

Implementing such policies would result in a 50 percent decline in carbon emissions, a 0.6 percent increase in GDP, the creation of an additional 1.4 million jobs, less dependence on foreign oil and lower household energy bills - all by 2020, the report claimed.

"As the market grows for (renewable energy) technologies, so will the jobs needed to manufacture, transport, market, install and maintain them. Add in the energy cost savings for households, businesses and governments, and cleaner energy is an economic force not to be ignored," said Kevin Knobloch, executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a backer of the plan.

Knobloch and representatives from the Service Employees International Union, the United Steelworkers of America, the Sierra Club and Natural Resource Defense Council Climate Center, an environmental group, called on Congress to develop an energy policy that will fight global warming while protecting the economy.

Clean Air Act

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization founded by former Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader, released a study charging that the Bush administration's imminent Clean Air Act proposals would increase oil industry pollution and create public health threats.

Proposed changes to the act would "open huge loopholes for polluting industries to avoid reducing emissions," according to a statement from the group. The report is available at www.refineryreform.org.

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